Those wackos in loincloths were in a real tizzy after they realized their smaller captives had disappeared. A few hours after the kids escaped, a half awake Indian wandered over. He'd frozen when he noticed there were only two prisoners now. To Alfred, it looked like he recounted a few times before running to tell the others.

Now, four of the bad Indians (as Alfred had dubbed them) were out there on horses, doing their searching. Alfred really hoped the little buggers could escape. They had a good head start and if they had good hiding skills they'd probably be able to get away. At least, he hoped so.

One of those big dark guys with a stormy look on his face stomped in the direction of the captives. Alfred made sure to glare at him as the man stopped in front of them.

The big man glared at _____ and yelled something that sounded like jibberish to Alfred at her. She stared up at him for a minute before a smirk made its way onto her face. She said something back that sounded rather tart, and it seemed to make the enemy even more angry. He kicked her. Alfred could almost see the giant bruise that would be on her rib age in a few hours.

That was it. How dare that rat of a man hurt a girl like that! She didn't do anything! He would not let it go any farther.

It took a moment and another kick before Alfred managed to get his feet underneath him. He then launched himself at the Indian, slamming into him and bringing both of them to the ground. The angrier Indian jumped up and slammed his fist into Alfred's face. Alfred was then thrown onto the ground and received a string of angry words from the Indian before he stomped off.

Slowly, Alfred worked his way back into a sitting position. It certainly hurt, but he felt better knowing that _____ wasn't going to be the only one with bruises. Thinking of _____ Alfred turned to look at her. She was already looking at him, a look somewhere between concern and thankfulness on her face. She said something. Alfred decided it was likely somewhere along the lines of "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright," he said, smiling at her. He did his best not to think of the big bruise that would be on his face soon. "Are you alright?"

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before slowly nodding "Alright," she said slowly. He beamed at her. She smiled back.

>~time skip~<

By the time the searchers got back the sun was high in the sky. To Alfred's great relief, they didn't have the little escapees with them. Everyone looked pretty grumpy too.

After that it seemed everyone was in a hurry to move. They unceremoniously strapped Alfred and _____ to a horse and put it right in the middle of their group. The entire day was spent clinging to a galloping horse by the two miserable captives. It seemed the enemy braves wanted to put as much distance between themselves and _____'s tribe as they could. With the newly escaped captives it would also be much easier for the good guys to catch them, having a clear idea where they were now. If these people could make it to wherever they were going before _____'s tribe caught them, chances were it would be too far into winter for them to go after the enemy. In short, the whole situation sucked.

Reader's POV

If you had to guess, you'd probably say it had been a bit more than a week since the kids had escaped. After that night the braves always kept you and Alfred in the center of the camp while they slept, so that if you made much noise they would hear you. They also rode much longer during the day and got up much earlier in the mornings. This, combined with the captives riding as well, made them cover much more distance in a short amount of time.

But today, you and Alfred were walking, tied to the horses again. The mountains that had been growing larger every day were now standing taller than ever in front of you. The terrain had been quickly transforming into forest again, and it was quite rocky as well.

Frightening was the word that came to your mind. You had never been so close to the mountains, and now it seemed that you would be going up one of them. The ground was already sloping upwards. The horses seemed to stumble every here and there, which made you nervous. After all, if one of the horses you or Alfred were tied to fell... well, it wouldn't end well for either of you.

Suddenly everyone stopped. You looked up and moved around a little so you could see past the horses. It appeared the leader of the bunch was going onto a narrow path that had a much steeper slope than the ground you were currently standing on. You swallowed and shifted from foot to foot nervously (and in order to relieve your aching feet slightly). Slowly, the entire group of braves on their horses formed a line traveling up the path. It seemed a well worn one. You wondered if they maybe lived on the mountain, or possibly on the other side. What did it matter anyway?

As the brave that had captured you (that you had dubbed Devil) gently nudged his horse onto the path you felt a small wave of panic overtake you. You could easily die here. Now that you were heading up the mountain you knew your chance of rescue also dropped significantly. People from your tribe almost never ventured near the mountains. That was not your territory, that was not your terrain. And now that you were here you knew that you wouldn't be rescued. You almost wanted to cry. There had never been a big chance you would go home ever, but now it was almost nonexistent.

Alfred looked back in your direction from farther up the trail as if to say "you okay?" you kept your eyes trained on him for a moment before looking back down at the dirt underneath your feet. This was most likely a hunting trail. Wherever they lived the apparently wasn't much good hunting. That was one of the causes of the animosity between your tribes. They came on your land and hunted your prey. That was unacceptable.

You bit your lip and looked over the side of the narrow ledge. It was a long way down. Up here there was a fairly good amount of wind, and the grand old trees shielded you from the sun. A good thing if you were hot, but you were far from that. In fact, you were getting rather cold.

>~time skip~<

For the next several days (you had completely lost count by this time) the treacherous climb upwards continued. You were sure that it couldn't get any worse. You were wrong. You discovered that as the climb back down the other side of the freezing mountain began. On the upper-part of the trail snow was already laying almost an entire foot thick. You trudged slowly through it, fighting the cold winds, and temperatures. The sunless slopes offered no relief from the cold. At night, you and Alfred snuggled close together in order to preserve as much warmth as you could. However, going back down the mountain was just as miserable. The weather never got warmer, though the snow did dissipate some; winter had clearly begun. The path only seemed narrower as you progressed further. It was even to the point that they had to dismount the horses and slowly lead them forward. food had gotten scarce, and you and Alfred were given even less food than you had gotten before, leaving the two of you rather boney, and gray. Even Alfred's golden hair seemed to have dulled slightly. And there still hadn't been any sign from your tribe. You hadn't expected any, but you could always hope.

When you finally reached a more level ground that was wedged between two of the mountains you were extremely relieved. You'd watched as a horse fell off that mountain, and you had no wish to follow. The valley was filled with a forest, and a river seemed to snake it's way down the center, fed by the mountain streams. It was there, within the forest and near the river that the enemy camp was situated.

The return was triumphant, the women and children running excitedly to meet the braves and their spoils. They looked particularly happy to see new slaves being dragged along behind.

For what felt like hours you stood tied to the horse, surrounded by happy families and proud braves. It made you miss home all the more. And finally, you bowed your head and aloud your silent tears to flow. You knew there would be many more to follow.

I'm sorry this chapter is so pitiful. I knew what I wanted to happen in it, I was just having trouble making it happen.

I'm also sorry it took so long. I went on a walk in the woods on Saturday morning (partially researching for some future chapters ) then I had to practice some songs and bake some stinking good lemon coconut cupcake thingies for Sunday. On Sunday my sister and I sang 2 songs for my church, we had a special church food thing, and my family had a get-together. ...and I got a new book that was totally awesome! I had to put it down for school today though and it almost killed me! I mean, I had to leave them stranded in a river, wedged between two rocks about to fall over a waterfall with a croc or caimen or alligator about to try and eat them. Do you know how hard it is? I was thinking about it all day! But I finished it, so there's nothing to stop me from writing now. Plus I got some great inspiration from it too!